Protect Your Pet Today

A couple of years ago, my parents’ dog Tom died from a case of heart worms. This adorable chow mix suffered with this condition for many months before he passed away. While watching his struggle, I learned about the importance of screening your pet for heart worms regularly. I also discovered how critical giving your furry friend monthly heart worm prevention pills are. My dog new Sammie is screened annually for heart worms. She also takes a pill once each month that is supposed to prevent her from ever succumbing to this heartbreaking problem. Her monthly pill also protects her from fleas. On this blog, you will learn how to protect your pet from heart worms today.

Taking Care Of Your New Puppy: What You Should Know

Posted on:
18 August 2015

When you get yourself your first new puppy, you may feel overwhelmed with the cuteness and the fun of bringing it home. However, there are many responsibilities and factors you will need to consider when you do so. Puppies are essentially like small children in a lot of ways. They need medical (veterinary) care, support, guidance, and discipline in order to adjust to their place in the world and into your home environment, as well as to stay healthy. Get to know some of the important steps you should take when you bring your brand new puppy home so that you can be the best pet parent possible.

Make Sure They Get Vaccinated

When you buy a puppy, especially from an individual rather than an animal shelter or adoption center, you do not necessarily know if the puppy has been to a veterinarian, let alone if they have been vaccinated. If no vaccination records were provided by the original owners, your first order of business should be to get to the vet's office and get the vaccination process started (or at least scheduled).

Just like children, puppies are at high risk of contracting communicable diseases. Diseases such as rabies, kennel cough, the Corona virus, and parvovirus can easily infect puppies and cause irreparable damage if they are not properly protected before exposure. So, make vaccinations your first priority when you bring your puppy home.

Spay or Neuter Your Puppy

When you first get your puppy, they may still be a bit young to go through the surgery to get spayed or neutered. After all, this is a major surgery (especially for female dogs) and requires a strong body to recover properly.

As such, the traditional age that a dog can be spayed or neutered is six months, though some clinics may go ahead with the procedure months prior to that. However, no matter how old your puppy is when you get him or her, you will want to plan on getting them fixed as soon as possible.

Spaying and neutering your dog prevents them from having puppies of their own in the future. For female dogs, this also prevents them from ever going into heat (the canine equivalent of menstruation). The benefits of spaying and neutering are numerous. You will not end up with unwanted puppies, for one thing. Male dogs that are neutered are less aggressive, better behaved, and less prone to escape and wander away than their un-neutered counterparts. And both male and female dogs that are spayed or neutered live longer (on average) than those who are not.

Now that you know a few of the key factors to keep in mind when you bring your new puppy home, you can be better assured that your puppy will be healthy and happy for many years to come. To find out more, speak with someone like Caring Hands Animal Hospital.